When the health reform cure is worse than the disease

By Gary Slywchuk on November 21, 2016Comments Off on When the health reform cure is worse than the disease

Instead of looking to Europe or Australia, it's time to realize Canada can and should reform its health care from homegrown innovation

SYDNEY, N.S. Nov. 21, 2016/ Troy Media/ – Major decisions about how Canada’s health-care system operates could be decided by our courts – not democratically elected parliamentarians.

A Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge is underway in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Dr. Brian Day, medical director of the Cambie Surgical Centre, is arguing that the laws prohibiting Canadian doctors from practising in the public and private health sectors simultaneously should be struck down, along with the prohibition on extra billing for services already covered by the provincial health plan.

Day argues such restrictions prohibit patients from seeking the best care possible, thereby violating the charter. But critics argue the case is more about increasing doctors’ potential earnings than patient choice or quality care.

Right now, we have a single tier of publicly-funded health care (a limited private sector covers certain non-insured services). If Day’s challenge succeeds, those who are financially able will have access to a tier of health services where doctors charge whatever they want. Those who lack funds will only have access to the public tier, where doctors adhere to a mandated fee schedule.

What’s wrong with a two-tier system? Evidence from other countries demonstrates it too often benefits only those who can afford to pay – and makes the publicly-funded system more expensive and less efficient.

Day argues a two-tier system is the solution to medicare’s problems. His lawyers assert that the creation of private payments will alleviate strain on the public tier, ultimately leading to shorter wait times for all Canadians, regardless of which level of care they access.

It’s not that simple – as Australia discovered.

Australia had a publicly-funded system like Canada’s before introducing a parallel private-pay system in 1999. However, [popup url=”https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-814702051/private-care-and-public-waiting” height=”1000″ width=”1200″ scrollbars=”1″]wait times[/popup] in the public pay system became longer, not shorter. Many specialists spend more time in the private system than in the public, cherry-picking the healthiest, wealthiest and most profitable patients. That leaves the most complex, vulnerable, sickest and costly for the public system.

Day also points to the viability and desirability of European health-care models – so let’s have a look at a few.

[popup url=”http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/293689/Switzerland-HiT.pdf?ua=1″ height=”1000″ width=”1200″ scrollbars=”1″]Switzerland[/popup] has the second most expensive system in the world, behind the U.S. Private insurance is mandatory. Out-of-pocket payments are exceptionally high, with low- and middle-income families paying more into the system than families in high-income brackets.

The French have a private/public hybrid, but private insurance only helps cover the extra billing introduced to add more money to the system. They also have some of the greatest financial and geographical [popup url=”http://www.euro.who.int/en/about-us/partners/observatory/publications/health-system-reviews-hits/full-list-of-country-hits/france-hit-2015″ height=”1000″ width=”1200″ scrollbars=”1″]inequities[/popup] in access to health care in Europe.

The [popup url=”http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/255932/HiT-Germany.pdf?ua=1″ height=”1000″ width=”1200″ scrollbars=”1″]German[/popup] health-care system is also a public/private mix, but patients have to choose one or the other. Germans with public insurance – about 90 per cent of the population – wait three times longer for some care than those with private insurance. More importantly, private insurance sold in Germany is for those wealthy enough to leave the public system entirely. They can never come back, no matter how expensive their care becomes.

Some believe the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) is comparable to Canada’s. It’s not. NHS doctors are salaried government employees who must work a 40-hour work week with additional evening and weekend call hours before they can see private pay patients.

So if Europe doesn’t offer an obvious solution to improving the Canadian system, where should we turn?

These models changed how we deliver care to improve that care. Our legislators, policy-makers and health practitioners could help make such Canadian best practices – and more – a reality across the country.

So let’s not pretend the Day case is about patient choice. Instead, let’s modernize and innovate within Canada’s public health-care delivery to benefit everyone.

Dr. Monika Dutt is the chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare. She is a family physician and public health specialist in Nova Scotia, an adjunct professor at Cape Breton University, and holds a Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all Troy Media columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Troy Media.

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